The Mazda3 was Australia’s best-selling car in January, getting 2009 off to a great start for Mazda. VFACTS data released today points to another excellent performance by the 3, notching up 2,989 sales to be Australia’s best-selling small car in February.

A new Mazda3 is due in showrooms in April making February the second last full month on sale for the current model, a model that will bow out having helped Mazda achieve the top-selling full-line vehicle importer crown and carve out an 18 per cent share in the Small Car <40k segment.

In total, 6,376 Mazda passenger cars and commercials were retailed in February, securing the Hiroshima-based manufacturer a 9.1 per cent market share this month.

As well as topping the small-car sales charts, the Mazda3 brought up the 400,000th sale for combined Mazda 323 and Mazda3 model lines. The Mazda 323 notched up 238,722 retails between 1978 and 2003, and the Mazda3 has achieved 161,310 sales between January 2004 and February 2009.

“This 400,000 milestone is a remarkable achievement which speaks to Mazda’s long-term commitment to deliver good value, fun-to drive small cars,” said Mazda Australia’s Managing Director, Doug Dickson

The current Mazda3 sedan and hatchback range, up 6.5% YOY, is one of few volume models outperforming 2008 levels and Mr Dickson confirmed that Mazda are confident the new-generation Mazda3 can build on the success of its predecessor.

“The new-generation Mazda3 is even sportier, more spirited and more refined. It’ll have Dynamic Stability Control on all models, and luxury features like satellite navigation standard on half of the range. It’s this mix of value and offering new car buyers the benchmark value for money they expect of a Mazda.”